Janata Parivar merger not to destabilise Modi government: Gowda

Bengaluru: Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Thursday said the merger of Janata Parivar parties is not to destabilise the Narendra Modi government but to highlight its "failures" to fulfil election promises.

Gowda said the Parivar will highlight, inside and outside of the Parliament, the problems faced by farmers, labourers and poor people, who are suffering from malnutrition, adding, even one year after Modi came to power, farmers were committing suicide.

"The merger of Janata Parivar is not to destabilise the Narendra Modi government at the centre, but to highlight its failure to fulfil the promises made during election campaign," Gowda said.

When reminded about the failure of multi-party alliances in the past, he said, "It is the failure of the Congress … 2G scam and coalgate that helped BJP to emerge as the single largest party in the last Lok Sabha elections. In addition to that several regional parties had associated with Modi's leadership."

On multi-party combinations not lasting long due to leadership issue, Gowda said, "How many times, the Congress party, which is 130 years old, split before?"

To another query, Gowda said there is no dispute on Mulayam Singh Yadav heading the Janata Parivar. "Mulayam is a senior leader. We all have accepted his leadership. There is no dispute on that," he added.

Asked whether Janata Parivar sees itself staging a comeback to power in the next Lok Sabha polls, Gowda said it will depend on fulfilment promises made to people during general elections.

"It depends upon how this present government, which enjoys an absolute majority in the lower house, will fulfil the promises it made during election," he said.

The merger of these six parties, which originally were part of the Janata Dal that swept the 1989 Lok Sabha polls, was declared at SP President Mulayam Singh Yadav's residence in New Delhi yesterday. The name, flag and symbol of the new party are yet to be announced.

Gowda said a committee headed by him will chalk out the schedule to finalise everything related to the new party. "The panel will decide on the name, policy, programme, flag, symbol of the new party. The decisions will be taken collectively," he said.